As the application of various communications networks expands to provide an increasing number of users with advanced functionalities, faster connection speed and higher bandwidth throughput are required to accommodate all users with reliable connectivity. This requires service providers to constantly deploy new networking equipment, both to expand the reach of their offered network and to upgrade outdated and nonfunctional equipment.
In many cases, new equipment must be properly configured by the service provider in order to provide the intended functionality to neighboring nodes. In many situations, however, configurations will vary only slightly between similar equipment within the same network. This creates a significant amount of time being spent performing the same set of configuration tasks on each new network element. These configuration tasks must often be performed by highly-trained experts familiar with the functionalities of the network element and the configuration process. Employing such experts is costly to the service provider, as the experts are usually compensated at a rate significantly higher than that paid to an employee of minimal training.
For example, in many mobile networks, the routers used to aggregate the various services supported by a number of base transceiver stations require mostly the same configuration with only minor differences between them, such as certain service endpoint and port configurations. Configuration of one such aggregation router according to current techniques normally takes approximately fifteen minutes to one hour and typically must be performed by a trained expert. It is estimated that service providers currently may deploy as many as 3,000 such aggregation routers per year, with this number increasing as time goes on. Using the fifteen minute configuration estimate, this leads to 45,000 minutes, or nearly nineteen 40-hour weeks worth of configuration work by trained experts.
Similarly, neighboring nodes must often be configured when installing new network equipment in order to provide the desired functionality. For example, configuration of ports, service endpoints, or multi-protocol label switching may be required of neighboring nodes before the new equipment can function properly. As above, such configurations may vary only slightly for each new network node, introducing a significant amount of configuration overhead due to repetitive tasks.
For the foregoing reasons and for further reasons that will be apparent to those of skill in the art upon reading and understanding this specification, there is a need for a network configuration system that minimizes the amount of time taken to perform repetitive configurations of network nodes and allows such configurations to be performed by a person of minimal training.